Weblog: Weeks of April 21/May 12

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

17 — Number of warbler species we saw at Magee Marsh near Toledo on Sunday.

97,005 — Number of dollars given to Sen. George Voinovich by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the major pro-nuclear lobbying group, between 1997 and 2002.

34 — Forbes magazine "Best Cities for Singles" rank of Cleveland among the largest 40 metro areas. Columbus ranked 22, and Cincinnati came in last. Ratings were based on the ratio of singles, culture, nightlife, job growth, and cost of living. Ohio is definitely not hip.

2 — Number of gates that will guard the new gated community Crystal Pointe in Aurora. Crystal Pointe will be a gated community within the gated confines of the Barrington Golf Club & Estates. Double paranoia!

600,00 — Number of dollars remaining to be raised for the beautiful (and ecological) new building planned by the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. A great cause!

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

No more Burke! — The call to turn Burke Lakefront Airport into a park is growing louder. Many citizens at the city's lakefront planning meeting last night named Burke as a top priority, prompting the Growth Association's Dennis Eckart to make the astounding statement to the PD, "The early returns are in, and Burke is toast."

The courts and the land — Local advocates for sensible land use planning were dismayed that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled recently that Mayfield Heights has to compensate developers whom the city prevented from building a retail center near I-271 and Mayfield Road. But, upon reflection, zoning experts we've talked to are saying that the case may not set a dangerous precedent after all. It seems that Mayfield Heights probably did not have a reasonable land use plan that justified its zoning restrictions.
      A more important ruling came recently from the U.S. Supreme Court. The court said that the Lake Tahoe Regional Planning Agency did not have to compensate land owners for a Constitutional "taking" because of a moratorium on land development. In Lake Tahoe, officials were justified in delaying development while planning for sensible growth that would protect the ecologically fragile lake.
     The moral seems to be: take your time to plan well and comprehensively, and then make logical, straightforward decisions based on that plan.

Ohio plans for the 1920s — Stuart Meck of the American Planning Association (who helped us write our Ohio Smart Growth Agenda) wrote in yesterday's paper that Ohio's land use planning laws are mired in 1920s thinking. "In Ohio, local governments operate on a confusing four-track system for land use planning: one for municipalities with charters, one for municipalities without charters, and one each for counties and townships. The basic structure for municipal planning and zoning legislation in Ohio was created from 1915 to 1923, and the county and township zoning legislation dates from 1947. All are almost unchanged from their original versions," Meck wrote.
     "A lot has happened since then. In the 1920s, we simply saw land as a commodity to be bought and sold. Today, as the Lake Tahoe case illustrates [see above], we view it as a resource to be protected for future generations...
      "Until the Ohio General Assembly acts to modernize the legislation by which plans and development are guided, all Ohio citizens and their communities will be the losers, and costly litigation will inevitably be the result."

Monday, April 29, 2002

Belated thoughts from Earth Day — Where is the energy of the environmental movement today? If you go by the groups at last week's EarthFest put on by the Earth Day Coalition, it seems that food and animals are among the growing issues. More and more people are concerned about the purity of the food supply (genetic engineering, industrial meat production, hormones and antibiotics, pesticides) and the treatment of animals. The intersection is diet, with more people becoming vegetarians. (There was even a group devoted to saving the skunks!)

Sprawl as another big issue — There's a new wave of environmentalism focused on urban growth issues. According to a recent article in National Geographic News, "After it was introduced 30 years ago, the phrase 'think globally, act locally' became an environmental rallying cry for an entire generation. Yet the grand vision it inspired—of communities mobilizing to take responsibility for the health of the planet starting in their own backyards—remained more a slogan than reality. Now, local environmental activism is getting a new lease on life, sparked by a public backlash against runaway and poorly planned development of cities and towns, widely known as 'sprawl.'"

The correct Earth spirituality — At a workshop of Northeast Ohio Catholic leaders on Saturday, Al Fritsch, S.J., of Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest made an interesting distinction between resurrection-centered spirituality and creation-centered or redemption-centered. He prefers the first, as it involves the renewal and healing of the Earth — making something greater — after the damage has been done.
     The workshop explored land use options for religious communities who want to preserve land holdings but are experiencing financial pressures to sell out to developers.
     Best line from a prayer/poem at the workshop: "You have stars in your bones and oceans in blood" (from a poem by Alla Renee Bozarth).

Davis-Besse fiasco — Today's PD reports that the hole in the lid of the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor is a public relations disaster for the nuclear industry, just when the industry had hoped to sell a new generation of "safer" power plants. For an industry insider's account of just how awful the David-Besse situation is, see this op-ed from The Washington Post.

Friday, April 26, 2002

Public listening? — We go to a lot of public meetings which ostensibly seek citizen input on important planning issues. Some make you feel that your ideas will impact the process; others give you the feeling that the meeting is a show put on to meet some bureaucratic requirement. Here's how to tell if you have experienced public involvement or public relations.

Biking downtown — Thumbs up to Tower City Center managers for lifting their bicycle ban for the Tower City RTA station. Management recently issued a security memo allowing cyclists to enter Tower City from Prospect Avenue only (not from Public Square) and to use the elevator nearest to those doors to reach the Rapid station on the lowest level. When exiting a train, cyclists can walk bikes through the handicap exit and take the elevator up to the Prospect exit.
     Bicycles have been allowed on RTA trains since October 1, 2001 (maximum two bikes per car during off-peak hours) but cyclists could not enter or exit at Tower City, the only downtown stop. EcoCity Cleveland's transportation advocate Ryan McKenzie organized a lobbying campaign consisting of citizens, City of Cleveland officials, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich to encourage Tower City management to make the change.

SoLo — Many partners come together to rejuvenate a city neighborhood. Here's a story of the SoLo neighborhood, south of Loraain Avenue on Cleveland's near west side.

Thursday, April 25, 2002

The lakefront — Citizens packed the gym of Sagrada Familia Church last night for the first public meeting of Cleveland's lakefront planning process. Mayor Jane Campbell and other officials said it was an historic opportunity to discuss how to reconnect Clevelanders to their lakefront. The turnout suggested that people are tired of the pathetic lakefront. They want better.
     EcoCity Cleveland will help bring fresh ideas to the lakefront planning process. We have received funding for the BLUE Project, a joint effort that also involves the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition and the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Leveraging the schools — The Cleveland Bridge Builders (the leadership development group for emerging leaders in Greater Cleveland) and other interested citizens recently toured four Cleveland public schools — James Ford Rhodes High School, Orchard Elementary, Forest Hill Parkway, and Harry E. Davis Prep. While part of the $1 billion school construction fund is slated to help renovate these schools, the tour illustrated that the need is greater in some schools than others. For instance, the district hasn't had a consistent repainting schedule in more than 20 years.
     Even so, the dingy and depressing institutional green classrooms at Harry E. Davis didn't dampen the spirit of the African drum and dance classes or the Motown revue. And that's the real lesson of a schools tour — despite the general perception of blight and caved-in rooftops, the Cleveland schools are showing hopeful signs.
     For every instance of rotting acoustic tile or outdated wiring, there is a classic auditorium with antique light fixtures, beautiful wooden seats, and refurbished molding (such as the one recently renovated with student participation at Rhodes High School), a lush interior courtyard with composting bin (such as the one created at Forest Hill Elementary with the help of the Cleveland Botanical Garden), or the art fence and garden that recently replaced a dilapidated parking lot at Orchard Elementary School (a collaborative project with ParkWorks). Such partnerships indicate that the school district is doing a better job leveraging local resources.
     By the end of the tour, participants departed with promises to donate old band instruments to Forest Hill's burgeoning music program, and all were impressed with the promise shown by Cleveland's youngest generation.

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Reclaiming the waterfront in Pittsburgh — A recent trip to Pittsburgh revealed an inspiring commitment to riverfront trails for hiking and biking—and an official insistence that public trails be integrated into all new development.

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